The Deep

Personality: He is ignorant in the ways of humans, having rarely traveled near the ports and bays, always staying on the rocks and only at night. As such, he may seem arrogant when considering human emotions and behaviors. He loves learning new things about the world, and is often seen observing things he hasn't seen before.

History: Nyyr was born to a noble family of merpeople, who have tried to get him married since he was old enough. He has rejected everyone's proposals, believing that he would be perfectly fine without a wife. As such, he left to 'find himself' and traveled to unknown waters.

Name: Mia Eastwood

Personality: She's very intelligent and clever, and very outspoken. She doesn't hold anything back -- emotions, determination, her thoughts. Sometimes that can get her into trouble for she acts before she thinks. She also has a stubbornness that is unparalleled and she can get irritated when things don't go the way she plans. Still, despite that, she's always been a humble person who puts the things she loves first which also makes her protective over these things. When determined to do something she can lose herself in her work and research.

History: Mia has always lived in her big coastal city. There's a huge boardwalk where she used to ride her bike and she used to go swimming all of the time. As she grew older, her love of the ocean continued and she began volunteering at the local aquarium. After a few years, she went off to college for marine sciences and soon after became a marine biologist working in her home city.

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The boat Mia was currently on rocked as the waves from the storm made it bob up and down on the open sea. She was the only one out today, her colleagues decided to postpone their field research until after the storm passed. Mia decided against it though and went out on her own. After all, their research would be skewed after the storm with the marine life migrating to different and deeper parts of the ocean to wait it out and the pollution and run-off from the coastal city emptying out into the sea. If she didn't do this now, she wouldn't be able to tag the sharks that lived in the area.

She had already managed to tag two bull sharks by the time the storm kicked up. It would have been easier had she had someone to help her, they were big and aggressive, but they were curious and she had managed just fine. But if she didn't do this, then they wouldn't be able to figure out where the marine life was going and what's been happening to them. Recently, the ecosystem has been thrown off for what was most likely pollution in the ocean, but they wouldn't be able to take action without proof. And Mia needed that proof because she wouldn't let those around her destroy the ocean she called home since she was a child.

It was a dark night out as Nyyr, more so than normal. The waters were choppy, too, something he was noticing a lot more, along with monsoons. At the moment, he was sitting atop a rock, barely close enough that he could see the shoreline. Seeing a dark shape in the water, he dove beneath the waves, seeing a bull shark. It had something attached to it. Telling it that he wasn't going to hurt it, he resurfaced, getting from a bag his seashell dagger. Going back to the shark, he held it gently, whispering softly to it. He wasn't sure what was on its fin, but he knew it didn't happen naturally. Working quickly, he began working on removing the thing, occasionally softly rubbing the shark's flank when it would act as if in pain.

When it was finally off, he went back to the surface of the ocean, holding the thing in his hand. Placing it on the rock, he was able to see a boat off in the distance. Pressing flat on his stomach, so that whoever was manning it wouldn't see him, he watched the watercraft silently, his dark eyes hard and discerning.

The GPS by the steering helm of the ship started beeping and Mia jumped upward and rushed over. She slipped slightly but picked herself up right away as the boat tilted and the deck was slick with rainwater. Looking at the GPS, it beeped and flashed that notified her that one of the tags on the sharks fell off. Mia for the life of her could not figure out what happened. Unless something happened to the shark, the tag shouldn't have fallen off.

Concerned, Mia looked at the coordinates on the GPS as to where the tag was left. It wasn't too far from her boat and maybe she'd be able to see if there was another boat or reef or something that could have caused it. Mia ran to the back of the ship and grabbed her binoculars to see if she could spot anything. Her efforts were in vain though because it was now pouring too hard for her to see very far. She realized that the storm was starting to get dangerous now and the boat was rocking dangerously as thunder boomed in the background.

Suddenly a wave crashed against the side of the boat with such intense energy and fervor that she was knocked off of the edge of the boat and into the violent waters. Mia tried to stay afloat and swim back to the boat but when she got near, the water carried her further away. Fighting against the waves were exhausting and every time a wave hit her, she couldn't tell which way was up. It didn't take long before it became difficult to hold her breath and move her limbs. A wave that hit her knocked whatever air was left and suddenly she felt as if she was inhaling water and there was black around the edges of her vision.

Nyyr watched as the boat rocked about in the choppy waves, the storm doing nothing to help it stay upright. As a particularly violent wave shook the boat, nearly capsizing it, he could see something being thrown from the deck of the craft. He wasn't certain, but it looked to him like it was a person. Telling himself that it wasn't any of his business, that he shouldn't interfere with 'human' matters even as he was swimming towards where he saw the figure splash into the water, he made his way to the figure, swimming expertly.

Every few moments, he would catch sight of the person, all limbs and ungainliness in the water. It wasn't long, however, before he was able to catch up with them. Wrapping an arm around the human, he quickly realized that they were female, and readjusted his grip before swimming again, his tail propelling him forwards back towards the rock he had been on a few minutes ago.

Once there, he pushed her onto it before pulling himself up. Leaning over her, he placed his ear against her chest, trying to hear a heartbeat. The sound of rain and thunder filled his ears too much and he couldn't hear anything. Whispering a curse, he tried to think of a way to make her breathing, not sure of human anatomy. This sort of problem never happened to a merperson, and it was a rather terrifying experience for him.

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Mia, almost unconscious but not quite, felt an arm seize her out of the water though her mind was too oxygen-deprived and panicked to realize what was going on. Suddenly, where there was only water around her, Mia could now feel the air. Her body convulsed as she coughed up water and she turned on her side and clutched her ribs as her lungs reached for as much air as it could take in. Water was still hitting her from the waves hitting the rocks, and she cringed as she another wave of coughs shook her, splattering water all over the rocks she currently lay.

Her mind was foggy and she couldn't quite register what was around her. Her head was pounding and her lungs burned. Slowly, she opened her eyes but they were unfocused due to the salt water and her current state. Suddenly, she felt exhausted but she couldn't help but murmur a "thank you" to the form that leaned over her before passing out completely. Perhaps if she had been alone, she would have forced herself to stay awake and wait out the storm, but her body was weak at the moment and this stranger had just saved her so her mind was probably working on instinct alone and deemed this person safe.

Starting as the woman began convulsing, coughing up water and retching, Nyrr resisted the urge to dive back into the water and leave her. Everything his parents had taught him as a child came back to him, about not interacting with humans. Scooting back a couple inches as he saw her opening her eyes, hoping the storm would keep her from seeing him properly, his ears caught two soft words of gratitude. As he was about to respond, he noticed she had slipped into unconsciousness.

Sighing, he moved to the edge of the rock, ready to jump in the water at a moment's notice, watching her intently. He would have to find out if she'd seen anything, and if she had, something would have to be done. Eventually, the storm let up, the waters calming, and Nyyr found himself relaxing a bit, trying to come up with answers to questions she would undoubtedly have when she awoke.

When Mia came to, the sun was casting warm lightly softly on her face and the waves weren't nearly as turbulent as she last recalled them being. Her head still hurt and a part of her mind was telling her that she probably had a concussion. 'Ugh', she thought groggily as the pounding increased. Her eyes opened, stinging from the salt water still. Still, she was surprised to see that the figure that had pulled her out of the water was still there. And as her eyes came into focused she noticed a lot more about that figure that wasn't exactly considered normal features for a typical human. She tried not to focus on that though, trying to tell herself that it was due to hitting her head and passing out that she saw that.

As her eyes focused and her mind became clearer, Mia could see her boat in the distance, swaying gently out on the waves as if a storm hadn't nearly capsized it before. She turned to her savior and looked at him or it or whatever he was and she tried to stay calm about it. "How- where- wha-what?" she started but couldn't quite manage to get the words to make sense. She cleared her throat and coughed a little, getting more water out as well as giving her time to mentally compose herself. "Why did you save me?" she finally asked. She had a lot more questions than that to ask but she couldn't simply formulate them what with the shock of it all. Still, she was absolutely fascinated right now.

Nyrr backed off slightly as the woman awoke, hoping that she wouldn't notice anything odd about him. If she did, hopefully she would think it nothing more than hallucinations. When he could get away, he would, and pray she forgot him. As she stuttered, he tried to figure out what it was she was saying, his knowledge on the human language decent but not perfect. When she spoke again, after seeming to cough more water out of her, she asked why he had saved her. It took him a moment to process the question, and longer for him to figure out what he needed to say back. "...You were...hurt," he started haltingly, before realizing 'hurt' wasn't the correct word. "It wouldn't be right to let someone die..." is what he settled for, trying to say as little as possible in case he slipped up and accidentally used the merpeople language.

"...Any person would do it..." he continued, not using the word 'human' because he obviously wasn't.

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